With the beginning of another year, consider this old Chinese proverb:
“Patience is power. With time and patience, the mulberry leaf becomes silk”
Did you grow silk worms as a child? What a miracle to watch them gnaw away at the mulberry leaves then curl up in their silken shawls. The end product of weeks of patience is a beautiful length of silk fit for a princess’s wedding gown. Perhaps you can introduce your grandchildren to the concept of patience by giving them some silk worms as a New Year gift. This could be the time to help the children, and our selves, begin to learn the power of patience.

What did you learn in the way of patience in 2008? Is it a lesson that needs to be repeated this year? As we consider the occasions when extreme patience is required, we are reminded that it is a fruit of God’s Spirit and it takes time to grow, just as natural fruit takes time and patience to grow also. Last September, I visited Italy with my two daughters and we were impressed with the crops of olives and grapes growing on the rocky hillsides. There is little rainfall, the soil is shallow and rough yet the fruit was filling out, grapes soft with a delicate bloom and olives rich and rounded. The vines had suffered the pain of pruning at the end of summer, all their hard-won growth cut away and burned. Then the chill of winter set in, rains and cold causing them to lay dormant, apparently nothing more than dead sticks. Then came the first rays of spring sunshine, slowly warming the soil and causing the delicate green shoots to burst out.

We know it takes the long, warm days of summer before the fruit is fully-grown and ready for the pickers. Surely this is a picture of the power of patience that we need to cultivate in our own and our grandchildren’s lives. This is such a “NOW” age with instant gratification the normal expectation. At the beginning of a new year, how can we pass on the lesson of the grape vine, the olive tree or the silk worm?

Perhaps you will find some of the following ideas useful in your own life as well as your grandkids:

• Set vegetable seeds on a lid filled with damp cotton wool and tick off the days it takes for them to sprout. Agree with your grandchild on both cultivating a particular aspect of patience during this period.
• Purchase a jigsaw puzzle appropriate to your grandchild’s age and ability. When she comes for a New Year visit, set it up on a spare table and begin the process of piecing it back together again. Keep an account of the time taken to achieve the finished picture. You both may be surprised how long and how much patience is required.
• Begin a project with your grandson such as assembling a model plane. Note how long it takes for the glue to dry and the fact that you cannot proceed until it is dry. The same patience is required to wait for the paint to dry.

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Consider the following book for additional ideas:
THE SPRITUAL GROWTH OF CHILDREN
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